Peel Bay Festival organisers presented a 3,333 signature petition to Speaker of the House of Keys Steve Rodan this morning (Tues).

The signatures have been raised over the last ten days to support a motion which Mr Rodan is placing before the court today.

In it he requests the Department of Tourism and Leisure to investigate proposals for future festivals with the promoter from 2009 onwards and agree a three year business plan to include appropriate levels of marketing grant, event guarantee or other form of financial assistance, and report to Tynwald.

Promoter of the Peel Bay Festival, Jonathan Irving, wanted to hold another Festival in 2008, but sought a limited Government guarantee of up to ?250,000 to be paid in the event of a loss.

However Tourism Minister Adrian Earnshaw refused to support the idea and Mr Irving has accused him of being "blind to the Tourism benefits".